Closed dyeing apparatus and method of preventing condensate therein



Nov. 18, 1969 KARL-HEINZ BUEHL 3, 783

CLOSED DYEING APPARATUS AND METHOD OF PREVENTING CONDENSATE THEREIN Filed April 19. 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG./

INVENTOR. KARL-HEINZ BUEHL ATTORNEY 1969 KARL-HEINZ BUEHL 3, 78, 75

CLOSED DYEING APPARATUS AND METHOD OF PREVENTING CQNDENSATE THEREIN Filed April 19. 1968 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR. KARL-HEINZ BUEHL ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,478,375 CLOSED DYEING APPARATUS AND METHOD OF PREVENTING CONDENSATE THEREIN Karl-Heinz Buehl, Aachen, Germany, assignor to H. Krantz, Aachen, Germany, a corporation of Germany Filed Apr. 19, 1968, Ser. No. 722,676

7 Claims Int. Cl. D06f 17/02 US. Cl. 8-158 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Description of the invention The present invention relates to a closed dyeing apparatus in which the dyeing operation may be carried out with dye liquor heated above 100 C. or at super-atmospheric pressures, or both. In this type of apparatus the vessel is only partly filled with the heated dyeing liquor and condensate will often form upon the inner walls of the upper part of the vessel above the liquid level. Fabric being dyed therein, particularly when in rope form, is circulated through the dye liquor by reels which are positioned above the dye liquor level.

A large part of the material therefore is always above the dye liquor level. When condensate in the closed top dyeing apparatus occurs on the inner walls of the upper part of the vessel, which may be cylindrical or ovular in cross-section, this condensate will drip off the upper walls above the liquor level and frequently drip onto the goods being dyed. Where carriers are employed with various types of synthetic fabrics to assure dyeing thereof, these carriers tend to evaporate at temperatures below 100 C. and the condensate which is formed from the heated dye liquor will therefore contain a particularly high proportion of the so-called carriers which will form an excessive proportion of the condensate.

These drippings therefore of the condensate upon the interior of the upper walls will frequently leave spots on the material being dyed which can only be removed after intensive after-treatment.

The providing of heating means for the upper walls of the dye vessel or additional heating jackets is not satisfactory, since it is difficult to jacket the entire area above the dye liquor and this greatly increases the cost of the machine and also involves provision of additional expensive conduits and heat conveying means which cannot be applied to all of the various window or cover parts in the upper part of the dyeing tank or container.

It is among the objects of the present invention to provide a procedure for preventing formation or condensate on the inner walls of dye vessels, particularly those which are only partly filled with heated dye liquor and which are designed to operate above 100 C. or at super-atmospheric pressures.

Another object is to prevent formation of condensate upon the upper walls of a dyeing vessel without the need of providing heating means or steam jackets therefor.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a method of operating a dye vessel designed to effect dyeing above 100 C. so as to eliminate and prevent formation of condensate likely to drip upon and cause spots or discoloration of the fabric being dyed.

3,478,375 Patented Nov. 18, 1969 Still further objects and advantages will appear in the more detailed description set forth below, it being understood, however, that this more detailed description is given by way of illustration and explanation only and not by Way of limitation, since various changes therein may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the scope and spirit of the present invention.

In accomplishing the above objects it has been found most satisfactory to provide a spray arrangement which will spray the heated dye liquor upon the interior, upper and side walls of the vessel which are above the liquid level. This will eliminate and make unnecessary the need of steam jacketing or other heating arrangements for preventing condensation on the upper side walls or the top of the container to prevent the formation of condensate thereon.

This is further advantageous in that it will not delay the dyeing operation until the walls have been heated up to a desired degree to prevent such condensation. During this operation the condensate will be carried by the sprayed dye liquor from the upper top and side walls above the liquid level so that it will be carried back into the body of the dye liquor itself.

In one preferred form of the invention the lower portion of the cylindrical or ovular dye vessel is provided with a pump or liquid circulator which will draw dye liquid from the lower portion of the vessel and deliver it upwardly to a series of nozzles which will spray the liquid over the top and upper sides of the vessel, causing it to flow back into the dye liquor.

The conduit arrangement is desirably positioned outside of the tank so as not to decrease the space available and the liquor is fed under suflicient pump pressure to thoroughly wipe away the condensate, before it drips or as it is being formed, back into the dye liquor body from the top and sides of the dye liquor vessel.

These nozzles desirably extend the full length of the vessel and are so arranged that the spray therefrom will sweep the entire upper interior of the vessel. The elongated spray nozzle is positioned directly under the top of the vessel and the spray paths are so arranged that they will sweep and overlap with each other at the top of the vessel as well as along the sides down toward the level of the dye liquor.

This will not interfere with the movement of the rope of fabric within the vessel, whether it be of round, ovular or elliptical cross-section. The nozzles should be directed toward each side and also should cover the top of the vessel.

Brief description of drawings With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention consists of the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts as hereinafter more specifically described, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein is shown an embodiment of the invention, but it is to be understood that changes, variations and modifications can be resorted to which fall within the scope of the claims hereunto appended.

In the drawings wherein like reference characters denote corresponding parts throughout the several views:

FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic transverse sectional view showing an elliptical dye vat.

FIG. 2 is a side elevational view showing the vat.

The cylindrical dye vessel or dye beck 1 is designed for dyeing fabrics in rope form and the temperatures may vary from F. to 300 F., or from about C. to C., and the pressures may vary from 7 pounds to 42 pounds per square inch.

In the forms shown, the pressure vat 1 is oval in crosssection and its large chamber is slightly inclined to the vertical for the purpose of securing a favorable liquor ratio and also for satisfactory running of the cloth. The rake or reel which rotates the cloth or fabric in rope form is not shown.

A portion of the bottom of the vessel, desirably at the central part thereof, is perforated as indicated at 2 so that the dye liquor may flow into a lower receptacle 3, which forms a suction chamber. Connected to the side of the receptacle or sump vessel 3 at 25 is the suction pipe leading to the pump 4.

The pump 4 has an impeller 26 projecting into the pipe adjacent the sump receptacle 3 and it is driven by means of the electric motor 6. The liquid delivered by the pump will flow through the outer chamber 27 over the radiating coils 7, which may contain sump, or other heating means.

The liquid then will be forced up through the feed line 8, where the main body of the dye liquor passes inwardly through an opening 28 in the side of the vessel to a distributor 9, which extends the full length of the vessel, as shown in FIG. 2. As a branch line there is provided a pressure conduit, which leads to the end 2-8 (see FIG. 2) of the spray pipe 12, which extends across and slightly inside of the top of the dye tank 1.

The pipe 12 is provided with spray nozzles 13, which are directed toward the top 29 of the tank or vat 1, as well as toward each side 11 thereof. These nozzles or spray elements 13 are arranged in two rows extending over the length of the pipe 28. This heated liquor, which sprays outwardly toward the sides 11, as indicated by the sprays 30, will overlap on the top 29 of the vessel, as

well as the side 11, and this liquor will then flow over the side walls 31, sweeping the condensate down toward the liquor level 14, so that there will be no drip onto the fabric.

The openings 32 are normally sealed by closures which will resist opening under any substantial difference of pressure within and without the vessel.

The effect of the spraying of the hot dye liquor over the interior of the top and side walls is to heat up these walls and prevent formation of condensate thereon. If any condensate has been formed it will be washed down into the body of the dye liquor.

The spray nozzles are so arranged that the interior walls not directly exposed to spray will be covered by the dye liquor running down from the spray nozzles.

As many changes could be made in the above closed dyeing apparatus and method of preventing condensation thereon, and many widely different embodiments of this invention could be made without departure from the scope of the claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, what is claimed is:

1. A dye vat for treating textile fabrics with a hot dye liquor comprising a closed vessel having bottom, side, top and end walls with the bottom of the vessel designed to receive a body of hot dye liquor leaving the upper side and top walls above the dye liquor and subject to collecting condensate tending to drip down upon the fabrics being dyed and to spot and stain the same, a pump to pump the hot liquor from the lower part of the vessel, and a spray nozzle connected to the outlet of said pump positioned in the upper part of the vessel closely adjacent the top therefor, said nozzle being provided with spray nozzles to produce overlapping sprays on the top and upper side walls and to heat up said upper side walls and top walls to prevent collection of condensate and also to prevent dripping of condensate back into the heated dye liquor body onto the fabric being dyed.

2. A method of high temperature dyeing using the dye vat of claim 1, in which the dye liquor is heated toabove the boiling point of water and contains a more readily volatile carrier compound which tends to concentrate in the condensate and cause spotting of the fabrics being dyed when dripping thereon, the step of heating the upper interior side walls and top wall by spraying hot dye liquor thereon to prevent any condensate forming thereon.

3. The dye vat of claim 1, a sump chamber being provided below the bottom of the vessel, and a suction connection from said pump to said sump chamber.

4. The dye vat of claim 1, said vessel being of cylindrical shape in cross-section and horizontally elongated and said spray nozzle consisting of an elongated tube extending the length of the vessel directly under the top thereof provided with oppositely directed overlapping spray elements to wash and cover the top and upper side walls.

5. The dye vat of claim 1, a branched conduit system having an inlet at the bottom of the vessel and outlets to the side of the vessel to recirculate the dye liquor and to the top of the vessel to spray the interior side walls and top of the vessel and a connection from the pump to discharge hot dye liquor into the inlet.

6. The dye vat of claim 5, said outlet to the side of the vessel receiving the major part of the circulating dye liquor and said outlet to the top of the vessel receiving the minor part of the liquor.

7. The dye vat of claim 5, said branched conduit system being arranged to discharge dye liquor to the top of the vessel at higher pressure than to the side of the vessel.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,545,872 7/1925 Ainslie 68-184X 3,013,422 12/1961 Amidon et al. 68184X 3,030,791 4/1962 Brown et a1. 6815 X 3,349,580 10/1967 Valls 68184X WILLIAM I. PRICE, Primary Examiner U.S. C1. X.R. 68-15, 184 

